A no-work weekend

Finally, a weekend where I won't have to come into the office. A weekend where I can take my mountain bike out of storage, clean it up and get it ready for the summer. A weekend where the forecast for Saturday is RAIN??!?

I don't care. Rain or shine, I'm having a good weekend. At least today is sunny and warm. Twenty-eight degrees centigrade with low humidity.

I might even go outside.

Finally a diesel SUV

Jeep is now offering the Liberty with an optional diesel engine. The link is for the US site, but it is also offered here in Canada as well. When it first came out, I wasn't really a fan of the Liberty, but over time I have come to like it at least a little more. I suppose I would be really excited if they offered the CRD engine in a TJ, and who knows, maybe they will. But even if they don't, I think this is a good move for Jeep and I hope they sell lots of these cars. I would love to mod one to run on straight vegetable oil, much like Vegetapaul did with his antique Mercedes.

Plus, a 5000 lb towing capacity? That's INSANE for a 4 cylinder! Give me money and sign me up. Suddenly I really want one of these cars.

Juice Bags

Okay, I so want one of these bags. It's called a Juice Bag, so it already gets bonus points for the pun, because of the solar panel built into the top flap that can be used to recharge whatever electric device you like.

It even has a lighter jack on it, much like you would find in a car. Standard car adaptors (like for cell phones or ipods) work just fine.

It's a bit pricey - okay, outrageously expensive might be the term some would use - at about $200 US. But I suppose you can bill into the cost of the item the free energy that you can get for your devices, most notably in places that don't have access to electricity.

But nevermind the utility. I'm a sucker for gadgets, and this is just the sort of thing that appeals to me. Now where did I put that spare $200 of mine?

Oh right. I used it to pay the electric bill.

Renovation update - flooring complete

Well yay for us - we finished laying down the laminate flooring last weekend. Although it now seems that we are also being screwed over by the flooring company who sold us the wood. (they are King of Floor, in case you are wondering) It seems that if you don't pick up your merchandise in a timely fashion, they will turn around and sell it to someone else without notifying you, or making any attempt to rectify the situation. Lucky for us, we had JUST enough wood to complete the last room.

Of course, that still leaves plenty of things for us to work on - but I for one will be happy to be done with the green dust. (FYI - the 'green dust' is the sawdust generated from cutting the laminate boards, as the wood used to make them is coloured green.)

It also helped that we had company over for dinner recently, which forced me to get off my lazy behind and actually clean most of the house. It is so much nicer in the condo now - who knew?

My ibook es teh SUPAR!

Yeah, don't ask me why I chose the title I did today. I think it is funny when I see intentionally misspelled text for some reason. I'm sure my wife will roll her eyes and make some comment about my degree in English and how useful it has been for me.

I explain to her that it was so long ago, my degree was actually in ye Olde English and therefore not relevant today. She's not buying it.

Anyway, the other, more important reason for today's title is because I installed some extra RAM in the trusty iBook last night. As usual, I was a little nervous about opening it up - too many times in the past I have tinkered with some gadget, only to end up with a dead patient on the operating table. So before opening it up, I had to once again search out instructions online - you know, to idiot proof the process. This meant I needed pictures. So after finding the illustrated how-to on iFixit.com (thanks again hon, for searching it out) I proceeded to do the deed.

I think I was a little too nervous - after putting the RAM in and booting it up, it was sluggish and the RAM was not recognized. So I open it up again, re-insert the RAM and try again. No luck. I was scared of forcing it and causing breakage. My wife, who was watching and getting much enjoyment out of the whole process, quipped "well the third time is the charm, take another look." This time I was able to seat the RAM properly. I didn't have it inserted all the way in my earlier attempts. Sure enough, on bootup, all 768 MB were recognized. Whew. The doctor can relax now.

Cost of the RAM - free, thanks to connections. Cost of the install - I figure a few weeks shaved off my life due to self imposed stress, so no biggie. Being able to play Vendetta Online again - Priceless.

Evidence of a weekend visitor

I was in working on the weekend again, and as luck would have it, was able to bring my dog with me. Look closely at the provided photo - it shows a nice big smudge mark from when Louise was barking at the doberman outside. It was the only time she was noisy, and I was the only one working upstairs, so it was okay. But I did have to calm her down after a bit.

I suppose I will have to clean the window now.

Happy news - I checked my FedEx tracking number, and some RAM for the ibook should arrive today. Since I still only have the base 256 MB that came with the ibook, this is a much needed upgrade. Many thanks to the generous person who made this happen.

Just gotta fib

Someone introduced me to another blog site called GottaBook. The article I linked to is called 'the Fib' which in his words, is:

a six line, 20 syllable poem with a syllable count by line of 1/1/2/3/5/8 – the classic Fibonacci sequence.

So I thought to myself: Fantastic! An excuse to write crappy poetry is JUST what this Friday needs. Now all I need to do is write a crappy poem to demonstrate.

Uh,
Hmm.
Oh wait,
I got it!
Hang on, no I don't.
Crap. This is harder than it looks.

I call this little fib "Inspiration". Thanks Gregory K. for the idea.

Flying in the dark

So last night when I was walking the dog, I noticed what I thought was a helicopter flying overhead. As if flew past me though, I realized that it was actually a plane with a horrible-sounding engine. Instead of the usual purr or buzz sound associated with an engine, this one was making a choppy pop-pop-pop kind of sound, which is why I assumed it was a helicopter at first. Anyway, I watched it continue past me, then bank and turn as it prepared to make the final approach.

Once it levelled off and was on the final approach, the lights on the plane went out, and the engine noise changed.

I'm pretty sure the plane made it in to land okay, but can't see the airport from where I live. It was very eerie to follow the plane by sound only as it travelled through the darkness, although to the pilot, I am sure his path was well lit with the city lights. As for the engine, my guess is that the change in noise was due to the pilot throttling back to idle and gliding in to the runway. I could clearly hear the propeller spinning as it flew past, and can only assume based on other planes that have landed here that the trajectory was correct.

My bus route circles the airport on the way into town - I'll be keeping an eye out for fresh wreakage, but it will be difficult to tell the difference between that, and any other projects on the go over there.

I missed most of April Fool's

About the only April Fool's gag I caught was Google's dating service, which was pretty funny. I think that last year there was a lot more, or maybe because the day fell on a Saturday this year I just didn't see as much.

If any of you were aware of other shenanigans that happened on the web for this year's April Fool's please let me know.

As for what I have been up to, well more concrete pouring. It looks like I am going to need more than was initially purchased - lots more. Which is okay, I guess I can look at what I have done so far as practice, with much more to come. By the time I put the vinyl floor down, it should have a very smooth surface, and should also have less of a drop from the door. I'm still looking for that quick and easy home renovation project though. It seems all of mine have hidden 'gotchas' attached to them, increasing time and effort required.

Oh yeah - I absolutely HATE the time change in the Spring. The whole losing an hour concept is not what I like about this. Things in the Fall are much better.